In our industry, our private, family business exists in a crowded sea of private equity (PE)-owned rivals, like in so many other industries. We are a supplier to elevator contractors and while we are mid-size as a supplier, we are small compared to our customers, the large multi-national elevator contractors. We are constantly looking for ways to define and take advantage of our strategic advantages. In our case–and it may be the same as yours if you lead an Evergreen® company–it is the very fact that we are Private and Evergreen that allows us to do this; our very identity helps us not only survive but thrive.

Our company, Wurtec, operates in a niche industry. In the elevator industry, there are four multinational, global companies, who build, install, and service their own elevators through a network of offices all around the world. Additionally, there are a great many regional and local players, like us, who provide products and services to elevator contractors, both the multi-nationals and the regional/local variety. We are based in Toledo, with six regional distribution warehouses around North America, supported by our main manufacturing and distribution facilities in Toledo.